Wires reporting comments from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum saying that Mexico is 'not getting close' to the BRICS group, and that its 'eyes are on USMCA'. In the past Mexico has frequently been speculated upon as a country that could join the BRICS group, but its reliance on a close trading relationship with the United States makes this an unlikely prospect. While not overtly stated, the US and other Western nations view the BRICS as a China-aligned counterweight to the US-aligned G7 group.

• Sheinbaum's comments come after a high-profile US-Mexico CEO Dialogue meeting in Mexico City on 15 Oct. As Mexico News Daily reports, Sheinbaum was keen to avoid spooking investors from both north and south of the border. “Your investments are safe in Mexico,” Sheinbaum told the CEOs during a speech at the annual meeting. Referring to the judicial reform, a proposed energy reform currently before Congress and a range of other constitutional bills that former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador put forth in February, the president told the Tuesday afternoon press conference that “none of these reforms represents a problem for investment in Mexico.”
• Any perceived shift towards BRICS membership would be received poorly in Washington, especially in the event of a win in November for Republican candidate former President Donald Trump, who has made a point of warning countries not to shift their alignment towards China, economic or otherwise.